Intel has introduced the industry's first 34nm SSD. The new 34nm manufacturing process is also allowing the price of SSDs using the technology to be reduced by up to 60% for PC and laptop makers. The NAND inside the SSDs is built on MLC technology.

The X25-M SATA SSD is intended for use inside laptop and desktop PCs and is offered in 80GB and 160GB versions. Intel says that the new 34nm SSDs are drop in compatible with SSDs using older manufacturing processes and HDDs.

Compared to Intel's previous 50nm SSDs the new 34nm devices have 25% less latency and can deliver performance of up to 6600 4KB write IOPS and up to 35,000 read IOPS. The new 34nm SSDs are available at $225 for the 80GB drive and $440 for the 160GB version for 1,000 unit quantities. The X18-M 1.8-inch SSD will start shipping later this quarter.

Via Intel